Hans Engl

The International School of Luxembourg Story: A New Approach to Teaching Physical Education The physical education (PE) department at the International School of Luxembourg (ISL) has served as a leader in the European community by dramatically changing its approach to teaching PE from a primarily sports-oriented program to one that emphasizes skill and fitness development. To initiate this change, students, teachers, administrators, and parents met with a professional PE consultant in 2003 to collectively design a program of greater variety and choice. The revised program allowed students to select new and alternative activities, while also providing opportunities for interested students to participate in traditional team and individual sports.

Over the years, ISL had established and developed a strong tradition of highly successful sport teams within its league of the Northwest European Council of International Schools (NECIS). As a result, faculty and students were skeptical about changing the curricular focus of the PE program, because it worked very well for developing athletes. The program was grounded in the philosophy that athletics require a solid base of sport skills which are established by 1) building a broad base of skills in the early years, 2) refining those skills throughout the course of the K-12 program, and 3) culminating in the Upper School with an emphasis on the development of varsity teams.

The PE program primarily served as a mechanism for strengthening the performances of athletes in the competitive after school program. This focus was similar to traditional PE programs in North America. PE classes were focused on building skills associated with sports offered in the athletics program. For example, when the basketball, volleyball, and soccer seasons began students were taught those skills and games in PE. During track & field season, students worked out on the track during their PE lessons.

In 2003, the school became committed to developing new standards and benchmarks in all of its academic subjects. We invited Kim Graber, former President of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), to steer the process of evaluation, development, and implementation of a new PE program at ISL.

Various national and international curricula were studied and compared during the first phase. Simultaneously, students, staff, administrators, and parents were invited to participate in forums discussing the interests and needs of a modern, alternative, and varied PE program. Grounded in research theories and the practical aspects of a "best fit" for ISL model, a new set of standards and benchmarks for the Middle and Upper School units were established.

Kim Graber visited the school again later that year, and led another 3-day workshop. During this workshop, the PE department finalized the development of the new Middle and Upper School units using Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe's curriculum model "Understanding by Design." The new program gave the students a choice of different activities. Middle School units ran for 6 weeks, and offered a wide-variety of choices in team, dual, individual, outdoor education, and creative sport activities. The Upper School units ran for 12 weeks, with students having the choice between different "core" sports and "fitness for life" courses. In support of the new curriculum the school invested in equipment, such as roller blades, so that all students could have exposure to novel curriculum.

Kim Graber joined us again in 2004 to help establish the Lower School units. A wide variety of skill activities were developed for PS-K2, taking into account the loco motor, manipulative, and non-manipulative aspects. The grade 1-2 curriculum focused on space, relationships, and effort emphasized in the "Movement Wheel" that was developed by George Graham and his colleagues. Finally the grade 3-5 curriculum was developed by creating 3-4 week units on individual, dual, team, outdoor, and creative sport activities that utilized small-sided games, simplified rules, and lead-up activities.

The PE department met yet again with Kim Graber in 2006 to review the new program, make changes where needed, develop skill progressions, and establish assessment criteria and tasks for the Middle and Upper School units. In continuation of this process, the PE department now organizes weekly summer workshops that focus on improving the current program, and continuing the development of the assessment tasks.

During the process of evaluating the "old" and creating the "new" PE curriculum, teachers were mostly enthusiastic, but also partly concerned about the changes. Time was needed to prove that the future program would be successful and accepted by students. Now the entire PE staff feels confident teaching the units, and new colleagues have no difficulty adapting to the program.

Our athletic sports program has not suffered by making the PE program independent of the athletic program. To the contrary, athletes view PE as a balance to their after school practices, and they acquire new movement and activity concepts. Furthermore, the non-competitive after school program benefited, as new PE activities were developed and transferred to clubs or activities outside the classroom.

Summarizing the PE curriculum development at ISL, the last five years can be viewed as a great success because all of our students (not just the athletes) are able to find areas of interest in the curriculum. The Lower School program builds a strong base of fundamental skills and abilities, including all aspects of movements, interactions, and variations. Middle School students experience a wide variety of alternative and traditional sports, and are challenged by a choice of new activities. Fitness for Life has become an integral part of our sports program in the Upper School, and encourages students to experience and learn new and lifelong aspects of physical activity and fitness.

resources:

Wiggins, G. & McTigh, J. (1998). Understanding by design (1st ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Graham, G., Holt/Hale, S. A. & Parker, M. (2004). Children Moving: A Reflective Approach to Teaching Physical Education (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Hans Engl: Biography

Hans Engl started his position as Head of Physical Education and Athletic Director at the International School of Luxembourg with over 550 students in 2003. In this function he steered the PE curriculum development, launched the new K-12 non-competitive after school sports clubs, and fine-tuned the Athletic programme for further growth to almost 900 students. At the end of this summer Hans Engl will take on his new role as Athletic Director at the International School of Zug and Luzern in Switzerland.

In his former occupational activities he was involved as Head of Physical Education, sports facility coordinator, volleyball, swimming and tennis head coach at the International School of Frankfurt for 5 years, after starting his teaching career at the International Primary School of Zurich and head ski coach at the American International School of Zurich, Switzerland, in 1996. Before commencing his profession, Hans Engl gained language and coaching experiences as an exchange student at the University of Las Palmas, Spain, and a trainer for his University Sports Centre.

Graduating in Physical Education, Mathematics, Educational Sciences and Psychology at the University of Göttingen, Germany, Hans Engl took a Masters degree researching the effects of training on sleeping patterns, published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine. Born in Munich, Germany, in 1967, he visited a local Primary and High school, before traveling overseas, working as a part-time ski instructor and organizing summer and winter camps.

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